Automat

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Sarah Palin's Facebook lies

automat --

A lot of folks use Facebook to stay in touch with friends and family. For Sarah Palin, it's a great way to spread lies about health insurance reform.

A few months back, Palin took to Facebook to declare that health reform would create "death panels," and drive private insurers out of business -- and nonpartisan fact-check sites and the independent Congressional Budget Office debunked those lies.

But that hasn't stopped Sarah Palin. She's back with a new Facebook note claiming that reform will raise costs on families and drive up deficits. Unfortunately for her, even the conservative "Tax Foundation" says those claims are false.

So we're calling out Sarah Palin, and taking to Facebook to debunk her lies on the very same pages she's using to spread them.

We've put together a short Facebook note cataloging just some of Sarah Palin's many distortions and the facts that prove her wrong. But we need your help to "share" the note and make sure she doesn't get away with her outrageous lies.

If Sarah Palin wants to spread lies on Facebook, we'll call her out in the very same place. And when thousands of folks share our note and expose her lies, it will be clear that those who lie about reform will be held accountable -- no matter where they spread their misinformation.

The more we push back with the truth, the more Sarah Palin and others like her will have to think twice before they promote lies, and the less they'll be able to derail progress.

Even if you don't have a Facebook account, you can still help us call out Sarah Palin. Visit Call 'em Out: Sarah Palin to watch our video detailing her lies and to call Palin's political organization and say, "stop lying."

Rising health care costs are crushing American families and squeezing small businesses. Reform will reign in costs and cut the deficit in the long run -- that's why it's so important, and why Sarah Palin's lies are so malicious.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Michael Steele's political games

automat --

Last weekend, Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher admitted what's been painfully clear for months, saying: "I see a lot of Republicans simply involved in political games."

Sadly, he's right -- and when it comes to health reform, there's no one that statement applies to more than Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. Instead of encouraging his party to work toward reform, Steele's been leading the charge against it with a series of lies and distortions.

He's claimed reform would hurt small businesses, cost millions of Americans their insurance, and cut Medicare benefits -- and independent observers have declared each of those claims false.

Steele knows that all Americans -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- are dealing with the painful consequences of a broken health care system. But he's siding with Washington elites and insurance companies and playing political games to kill reform -- so we're calling him out.

Even though everyone from Sanjay Gupta to AARP and the independent PolitiFact say that claims that reform would cut Medicare benefits or result in rationing are false, Steele's been spreading them for months.

And what does the Congressional Budget Office -- the independent arm of Congress that evaluates bills -- think about Steele's claims that reform would increase the deficit and force Americans from their current coverage? CBO analyses refute the RNC chairman's claims on both counts.

To top it all off, Michael Steele has claimed that reform would burden small businesses and kill jobs. But the conservative Chamber of Commerce admits business owners support reform, and one small business owner said such a claim is "little more than a purposefully misleading bag of rhetoric that has nothing to do with the real issues facing small businesses."

Michael Steele is willing to lie and play political games in order to kill reform that would help Americans of every political party -- so we're calling him out:

Jenny U. from Missouri did what any parent would: When her son needed a kidney, she donated one of hers. But she didn't realize insurance companies would use her kindness as an excuse to never cover her again, calling her donation a "pre-existing condition."

Now, insurance companies are spending millions on a campaign of lies to kill health reform that would help folks like Jenny. So, today, with crucial negotiations taking place in Congress, we're raising our voices and making it clear: It's time to deliver on reform.

We've set a big goal: 100,000 calls to Congress made or committed to in a single day. To hit it, we'll need your help -- will you take 3 minutes to call Congress now?

Health insurance reform is finally ready for consideration by the full Congress, and hundreds of insurance company lobbyists on Capitol Hill are working overtime to kill it. Calling is quick and easy, but effective -- and your voice has tremendous power at this critical moment.

After you make your call, tell the staffer who picks up where you live and that you're counting on Congress to deliver on health reform. Let them know that Americans like you support the President's plan -- and that if your representatives are working to pass it, they have your thanks.

If we hit 100,000 calls made or committed to, we'll send an unmistakable signal that this time, families must come before insurance companies. We'll be tracking progress toward our goal publicly -- make sure to report your call back to us so we can count it:

Many journalists and experts called the report "deceptive" and "implausible." Even the firm that wrote it now admits they only looked at parts of the health reform plan -- because that's what the insurance lobby paid them to do. It's exactly what we should expect from an industry that's been fighting tooth and nail to kill reform, and is now preparing an all-out assault.

We're not going to take it sitting down. So this week, we're calling out the health insurance lobby.

The lobby has invested millions trying to convince Congress to oppose reform. So this week, we're not simply debunking lies: The best way to Call 'em Out is to cut through the spin and tell our representatives to say "no" to deceitful lobbyists and "yes" to reform.

This isn't the first time the health insurance lobby has lied, cheated, or used misleading reports. This false report is just the latest salvo in a multi-million dollar offensive that appears designed to frighten voters and bully Congress into opposing reform.

In fact, just days after releasing the report, the lobby announced they will spend a million dollars on a television ad filled with debunked claims of Medicare cuts that could scare seniors away from supporting health reform.

We need your help to call out the insurance lobby and make sure our representatives understand that we're counting on them to stand strong against their pressure.

Visit Call 'em Out: Health Insurance Lobby, and help fight back. Share a video debunking the health insurance lobby's lies with your friends. Spread the word about their deceit on Facebook and Twitter. And most importantly, tell your members of Congress to say "no" to insurance lobby pressure.

Soon, health reform will be taken up by the entire House and Senate, and the insurance lobby will take their attacks to a new level. Their lies will grow more extreme -- and it will be more important than ever that our voices are louder than those of the Washington lobbyists.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Inspired

automat --

We woke up yesterday to tremendous news: The Nobel Committee has awarded this year's Peace Prize to President Barack Obama.

The President made a conscious decision from the beginning of his presidency to promote American ideals through re-invigorated diplomacy, talking to rivals as well as allies, and inspiring us all to put what binds us together ahead of what pushes us apart. Yesterday's news is a clear sign that the United States has returned to its long-standing role as a world leader.

It's also a reminder of why we all worked so hard to elect Barack Obama as president of the United States. Hearing the President announce that he will accept the award as a "call to action," I was inspired once again:

"...I know that throughout history, the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes. And that is why I will accept this award as a call to action -- a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century."

The news has left me deeply proud to be an American. So I want to congratulate President Obama, and give every American the opportunity to join me in saying "Congratulations, Mr. President."

President Obama's efforts to bring world leaders together are helping the people of the world face monumental challenges like nuclear arms proliferation, conflict resolution and climate change. His deep commitment to constructive solution and building alliances is bringing about a safer America and a more peaceful world.

It's exactly the change we fought so hard for.

The prize reflects a world that all Americans want to build. For our nation, it brings a sense of enormous pride. But it also brings a sense of deep humility about the work that remains if we are to resolve the global problems facing humanity.

As President Obama continues to work for a world in which conflicts are resolved peacefully and prosperity is widely shared, we will stand with him. And today, we're taking a moment to simply say, "Congratulations":

In the last week, while Republicans such as former Senator Bill Frist and former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson were putting progress ahead of partisanship by speaking constructively about reform, Rep. Bachmann was on the floor of the House of Representatives spreading fear and lies yet again.

And Bachmann specializes in making lies personal -- like her outrageous claim that Ezekiel Emanuel, one of President Obama's health care advisers, believes health care should be reserved for the non-disabled -- so "watch out if you're disabled." ("We rule Bachmann's statement 'False,'" says PolitiFact).

Bachmann has promoted the death panels lie ("False," say the Associate Press and New York Times). She's lied about illegal immigrants receiving taxpayer-subsidized care under reform. And she claimed reform was a "national takeover of health care." The nonpartisan FactCheck.org plainly refuted her on both accounts.

Last week, she even claimed reform will create "sex clinics" at schools, allowing students to have abortions without parental consent. That earned her one of her many "pants on fire!" false ratings from PolitiFact.

It all adds up to someone who will tell any lie, distort any fact, and shamelessly scare folks about reform in order to kill it. We've had enough -- so we're calling her out:

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Absolutely false

After decades of fighting to dismantle Medicare, GOP leaders like Senator Jon Kyl are taking to the airwaves with a cynical campaign of deception about how health reform will affect Medicare.

Kyl, one of the top Republicans in the Senate, has claimed that reform would cause the rationing of care for America's seniors. It's a claim that both AARP (which represents over 40 million seniors) and the non-partisan fact-check website PolitiFact have repeatedly debunked as absolutely false.

But it's no surprise that Senator Kyl has resorted to lying and scaring seniors to block reform. After all, he has publicly stated that insurance companies don't need to be "kept honest," and he even opposes requiring them to provide coverage without discriminating against pre-existing conditions.

Senator Kyl, we've had enough of the fear-mongering and lies -- we're calling you out.

Contrary to Kyl's claims, reform would help seniors who are still paying too much for prescription drugs, while making Medicare more efficient and more financially-secure in the long-run.

But his lies don't end at Medicare. He's claimed that comparative effectiveness research (a key tool to increase quality of care while lowering costs) would lead to rationing, another claim clearly debunked by the independent FactCheck.org.

Kyl has also claimed that the debt from health reform would not be sustainable, even though President Obama has promised not to sign a bill that adds to the deficit -- and even though Republican Senator Olympia Snowe has said the Senate Finance committee bill will be deficit neutral.

And, of course, Kyl has trotted out that most-debunked of lies, that reform will result in a government takeover of health care. No independent observer is buying that one.

Kyl's lies add up to a clear plan to score political points by tanking reform that Americans need. So, together, it's time to give Senator Kyl the same treatment as Rep. John Boehner and Gov. Tim Pawlenty before him: It's time to call him out.